SINGAPORE – The urgency in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a quickened process in developing, and approving, a vaccine, but experts say multiple steps have been taken to ensure that any vaccine rolled out in Singapore is safe.

The first shipment of Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Singapore on Monday night (Dec 21), marking the first time the country is buying in large quantities drugs that have been approved for use in a pandemic.

The vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech was granted authorisation for use here by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) under the pandemic special access route. It is the only one the HSA has approved so far, although others are being studied.